Richard Partridge is the Chief of Naval Systems at Rolls-Royce and has worked for the company since 1999. He provides leadership in the system selection, concept design and optimization of power and propulsion systems for surface warship programmes. Examples have included the Royal Navy's Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carrier, the US Navy's USS Freedom class Littoral Combat Ship (Monohull) and DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class destroyer, and the Republic of Korea Navy’s FFX-II Daegu-class frigate. Richard is a member of the Rolls-Royce Naval Product & Services Strategy Board. Richard worked for the Energy sector of Alstom Gas Turbines between 1996 and 1999, and prior to that spent six and a half years in the Marine Engineering branch in the Royal Navy, including three years serving on an Anti-Submarine Warfare Frigate.  Richard is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Marine Engineers, Scientists and Technologists (IMarEST). He is an alumni of Plymouth University (B.Eng in Mechanical engineering, 1996) and University College London (M.Sc in Marine engineering – Electrical option, 2001).